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Post by vballfreak808 on May 8, 2014 3:37:32 GMT -5
Who are the top sand recruits for the 2014-15 season? There are many sand players that are playing both indoor and sand so it would be hard to rate as who is the best overall sand players.
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Post by fetchin on May 8, 2014 16:35:10 GMT -5
I believe Zana Muno is considered this class's best recruit.
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Post by bayarea on May 8, 2014 17:18:13 GMT -5
"For the 2014-15 season", means this incoming class of 2014, no? Zana is probably the top recruit in the 2015 class...playing sand in spring of 2016. The McNamara twins, who are also going to UCLA are definitely top 2015 sand recruits as well.
Kelly Claes was probably the top 2014 recruit, and started early to play the 2014 sand season at USC.
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Post by bayarea on May 8, 2014 17:33:59 GMT -5
Of the top sand players in the HP program, in addition to Kelly Claes, Sarah Sponcil is one of the best 2014's, and is headed to play indoor/sand at LMU. (Sponcil and Muno as a sand team are formidable!) Of the other HP players, Jo Kremer is headed to Notre Dame, Ivey Schmitt to UCLA, Jenna Belton to USC, Kirsten Mead to indoor/sand at Santa Clara, Olivia Asprey to USC, Maddie Mertz to Tulane, Julia Mannisto to South Carolina.
Skylar Caputo is one of the top U19's, and like Zana, is a 2015 graduate, going to Pepperdine. Pepperdine has loaded their 2015 class with a lot of sand talent, including Kaity Bailey, Jenna Tunnel, and Nikki Lyons. USC will pick up a top 2015 sand recruit, Abril Bustamante.
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Post by fetchin on May 8, 2014 17:50:19 GMT -5
"For the 2014-15 season", means this incoming class of 2014, no? Zana is probably the top recruit in the 2015 class...playing sand in spring of 2016. The McNamara twins, who are also going to UCLA are definitely top 2015 sand recruits as well. Kelly Claes was probably the top 2014 recruit, and started early to play the 2014 sand season at USC. I am pretty sure the top 2013-2014 recruit was national champion and 2014 all american Sarah Hughes. Pepp, UCLA and USC are really gobbling up all the top recruits. |
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on May 8, 2014 18:53:09 GMT -5
"For the 2014-15 season", means this incoming class of 2014, no? Zana is probably the top recruit in the 2015 class...playing sand in spring of 2016. The McNamara twins, who are also going to UCLA are definitely top 2015 sand recruits as well. Kelly Claes was probably the top 2014 recruit, and started early to play the 2014 sand season at USC. I am pretty sure the top 2013-2014 recruit was national champion and 2014 all american Sarah Hughes. Pepp, UCLA and USC are really gobbling up all the top recruits. I think there's some natural confusion over how to assign classes for sand volleyball. Hughes and Claes played together as freshmen, but if you go by high school class, Hughes is a 2013 and Claes a 2014 (Claes hasn't even hit her 18th birthday yet, IIRC). Of the players in her high school class, I think Claes would be considered the top recruit. |
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Post by vbvalley on May 9, 2014 13:28:07 GMT -5
I suspect that we are going to see more tall players who are destined not to get a lot of playing time indoors move over to Sand Volleyball. A lot of indoor college coaches will also be happy as well to see that type of lateral move. The challenge will be to work out the funding as there are only about 5 1/2 Sand scholarships (I think) that can be split up among many where as the indoor scholarship cannot. As good as Muno and Sponcil are and will be, they are not that tall and will probably need to be playing with a taller (6+ ft.) player in order to compete on the #1, #2, and #3 Sand teams in the future. Remember, both Burnham and Ettinger at USC were recruited as indoor outside players but were probably not going to see a lot of playing time. However, they are excellent Sand players. This will also lead to a lot of taller players that still have a year of eligibility with Sand Volleyball transferring to a different graduate school and playing Sand.
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Post by bayarea on May 9, 2014 23:03:47 GMT -5
Pepperdine has also now formally split their indoor and sand teams, and all future recruits are being assigned to one or the other, but not both. It looks like USC is doing that for recruits, as well. The most competitive programs obviously find that it's a lot easier to get sand specialists who aren't spending August-December on the hard court and then starting sand training, and the two coaching staffs don't have to fight over the athletes. My understanding is that there are a maximum of 6 sand scholarships for the 2014-15 year and beyond, which can be split any way the school wants.
USA Beach tried to pair Muno and Sponcil both with taller partners, but they played far better together than with other partners. Since they will attend different colleges, they will probably each eventually be paired with a taller hitter and do well. The Witt identical twins, who are about 5'10", are paired together for Arizona, and presumably the McNamara identical/mirror twins, who are even shorter, will continue to pair together when they get to UCLA. But perhaps the tall hitters moving to sand will necessitate changes in all of those teams that have two "smaller" players.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on May 10, 2014 11:57:22 GMT -5
Pepperdine has also now formally split their indoor and sand teams, and all future recruits are being assigned to one or the other, but not both. It looks like USC is doing that for recruits, as well. The most competitive programs obviously find that it's a lot easier to get sand specialists who aren't spending August-December on the hard court and then starting sand training, and the two coaching staffs don't have to fight over the athletes. My understanding is that there are a maximum of 6 sand scholarships for the 2014-15 year and beyond, which can be split any way the school wants. USA Beach tried to pair Muno and Sponcil both with taller partners, but they played far better together than with other partners. Since they will attend different colleges, they will probably each eventually be paired with a taller hitter and do well. The Witt identical twins, who are about 5'10", are paired together for Arizona, and presumably the McNamara identical/mirror twins, who are even shorter, will continue to pair together when they get to UCLA. But perhaps the tall hitters moving to sand will necessitate changes in all of those teams that have two "smaller" players. That's not really true in respect to Pepperdine. While one indoor player is moving to sand-only (T. Racich), there are at least three players - Strehlow, Cash, and Messing - who will be playing both next season. And Pepp is recruiting at least one 2016 to play both. But Pepp is certainly moving in the direction of fielding a roster of mostly sand-only players. USC is the only school at this time where there is strictly no crossover between the indoor and sand teams. |
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Post by vballmom1 on May 10, 2014 15:19:13 GMT -5
What about East Coast schools? Doesn't FSU only field a sand team?
Arizona should be full sand within a 2 years and I believe ASU is moving that direction. I would guess that once it becomes a sponsored sport it will start to distinguish itself through sand specific programs.
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on May 10, 2014 15:44:23 GMT -5
What about East Coast schools? Doesn't FSU only field a sand team? Arizona should be full sand within a 2 years and I believe ASU is moving that direction. I would guess that once it becomes a sponsored sport it will start to distinguish itself through sand specific programs. Nah, FSU had half-a-dozen indoor players on their sand squad this season. But yeah, I think there will be a steady movement towards sand-only rosters (or rosters with only 2-3 indoor players) as the sport matures. |
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Post by FOBRA on May 13, 2014 15:46:27 GMT -5
Somewhat related, here's the AVCA 2014 High School All-AmericansVanessa Freire Florida State Gianna Guinasso Hawai'i Josephine Kremer Notre Dame Julia Mannisto South Carolina 2014 AVCA Sand Honorable Mention All-America Hailey Devlin Arizona Mary Hernandez St. Mary's Hi'ilawe Huddleston Hawai'i Christina McAfee Tulane Nicole Mejias Notre Dame Ivy Schmitt UCLA Ka'iwi Schucht Hawai'i Elise Zappia UCLA |
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Post by crawdaddy on May 13, 2014 17:46:57 GMT -5
Somewhat related, here's the AVCA 2014 High School All-AmericansVanessa Freire Florida State Gianna Guinasso Hawai'i Josephine Kremer Notre Dame Julia Mannisto South Carolina 2014 AVCA Sand Honorable Mention All-America Hailey Devlin Arizona Mary Hernandez St. Mary's Hi'ilawe Huddleston Hawai'i Christina McAfee Tulane Nicole Mejias Notre Dame Ivy Schmitt UCLA Ka'iwi Schucht Hawai'i Elise Zappia UCLA No sure why they'd leave off both of the players on Mira Costa's #1 team given that Mira Costa won the IBVL and I believe this team went undefeated. Skylar Caputo (Pepperdine) and Lan Nguyen (Tulane) deserved some recognition. |
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on May 13, 2014 18:44:32 GMT -5
I had no idea this existed. Since I don't know what the criteria are for selection, I'm loathe to offer any criticism, except to comment on one exclusion: I think Sarah Sponcil is better than any player on that list.
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Post by fetchin on May 13, 2014 20:36:10 GMT -5
Is there a chance Sponcil pulls a Claes?
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